Saturday, September 05, 2015

In one of the biggest rallies in recent decades, tens of thousands of people came to the streets in Rajasthan, to protest the state government's anti-Urdu policies.

The main issue was the recent abolition of hundreds of posts of Urdu teachers.

Tens of thousands of people under the banner of Tehreek-e-Urdu (Urdu movement) joined the silent procession.

Nearly 700 posts of Urdu teachers have been abolished in the state, which has led to outrage.

Besides, Urdu teachers have recently been transferred to schools where Urdu is not a subject. This is a bizarre decision of the education department.

When the Urdu teacher is transferred, the students don't get a new Urdu teacher and after a couple of years, when there is no replacement, the post is lapsed.

The government loves when posts are abolished, as less money is to be paid in salaries.

Secondly, when Urdu teacher is transferred to the school where Urdu is not taught as a language,

he/she becomes useless in that school. Even more strange is the decision to post Urdu teachers at the post of Sanskrit teachers.

When the repeated demands to redress the situation didn't yield any result, the Tehrik-e-Urdu called the rally.

Historic rally for the cause of Urdu in North India

Huge support came and the number of people who came on the streets, was indicative of the support for the cause of Urdu.

The procession began from Multipurpose school in the morning. Shahar Qazi Anwar Ahmad was sitting in an open vehicle, leading the rally.

People were carrying placards with messages, 'Learn Urdu, realise its sweetness', 'State governemnt, stop being autocrat and anti-Urdu'.

The procession reached the Collectorate later in the afternoon.

Here, the memorandum was given to the district collector.

The memorandum is addressed to chief minister Vasundhara Raje, urging her to stop the discrimination with Urdu.
Earlier, the Tehrik leaders said that it was just the beginning and if the issue was not redressed, a strong state-wide movement would begun.

Nearly, 300 volunteers belonging to different social organisations were managing the rally. Few had believed that it could turn out to be such a historic rally, which would shock the administration.

It is learnt that Rajasthan government has taken cognisance and transfers would be rectified, while the abolition of posts, may be reviewed. It was among the biggest show of strength for Urdu in India in recent years.

Can Urdu lovers in UP take out a similar rally?

Will Urdu-walas and Urdu organisations take note in Uttar Pradesh, and other states, where there are similar issues faced by Urdu students. Uttar Pradesh is the cradle of UP and here Urdu movement is weakest.

There is not a single Urdu medium school and despite promise SP government has failed to change the discriminatory law that bars education in any medium other than Hindi and English.

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